openness

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

openness

Where it comes from

From Middle English *opennesse, from Old English openness (“openness, publicity”), equivalent to open + -ness. Cognate with Old High German offannussi (“disclosure, revelation, openness”).

noun opennesses

  1. uncountable, usually Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see open, -ness.
  2. uncountable, usually Accommodating attitude or opinion, as in receptivity to new ideas, behaviors, cultures, peoples, environments, experiences, etc., different from the familiar, conventional, traditional, or one's own. Getting iced out by the tech giants turned Parler into a cause célèbre for conservatives who complained they were being censored, as well as a test case for the openness of the internet.

    Similar: open-mindedness, approachability

  3. uncountable, usually The degree to which a person, group, organization, institution, or society exhibits this liberal attitude or opinion.
  4. uncountable, usually Lack of secrecy; candour, transparency. "Instead of openness, there was the cunning tactics of cover-up and a complete failure by General De Chastelain to deal with the vital numerics of decommissioning," said Ian Paisley, 79, the Protestant preacher who heads the Democratic Unionists, Northern Ireland's largest party.
  5. uncountable, usually The degree of accessibility to view, use, and modify in a shared environment with legal rights generally held in common and preventing proprietary restrictions on the right of others to continue viewing, using, modifying and sharing.
  6. uncountable, usually The degree to which a system operates with distinct boundaries across which exchange occurs capable of inducing change in the system while maintaining the boundaries themselves.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: receptivity, receptiveness, open-minded, open-mindedness, honesty, sincerity, truthfulness, frankness, frankly, frank, forthrightness, directness, overt, regularity, public, willingness

Translations

Every language

noun degree to this attitude is exhibited

Ελληνικάανοικτότητα anoiktótita

noun accommodating attitude or opinion

Españolapertura
Italianoapertura
Ελληνικάανοικτότητα anoiktótita, ανοιχτότητα anoichtótita
Русскийоткрытость otkrytostʹ
עבריתפתיחות ptiḥut

noun lack of secrecy, transparency

Kiswahiliuwazi
Italianotrasparenza

noun computing: degree of accessibility

Italianoapertura

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"openness." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/openness. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

openness. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/openness

Chicago

"openness." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/openness.

BibTeX
@misc{openness_2026,
  title = {openness},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/openness},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}